The Boss of Me

28: The Party

Percy POV

"Percy, what exactly are you showing me?" Annabeth asked. Her hands took the camera and analyzed the make and model. 

"I can't say anything, but you can figure it out," I said weakly. 

The lumps of emotion in my throat made it hard to speak. I wanted to tell her everything, but I couldn't. Annabeth finding out is different than me telling her. If I tell her, Posideon can use that against me. However, if I simply show her the camera, it doesn't mean anything. 

I wanted to say something to emphasize that point. 

"I'm only showing you this camera because I want you to have a private office. You worked hard to become the boss, so you deserve to know that someone's spying on you. This has nothing to do with you and me," I added. 

Annabeth looked at me fondly. While I was speaking, my head was shaking. Essentially, my mouth was saying one thing while my body was saying something else. 

"So, that's the only reason why you came here?" she asked. 

"Yes. That's all," I replied. 

Maybe, Annabeth needed some time to process all the information, but I knew that she would figure this out. She was too smart not to. 

I slowly walked out of the office. I walked backward because I wanted to gaze at Annabaeth for as long as possible. I wasn't even sure if Octavian had more than one spy camera. For all I knew, there could be multiple cameras in the room. The thought of many spy cameras made me feel immensely insecure and scared. 

However, Annabeth would probably search her entire room for more. And, she would get to the bottom of who's spying on her. 

The elevator ride down was too quick. 

I was walking in the parking lot when I received a phone call. My eyes bugged out of my head as I stared at Annabeth's name on my phone. 

"Hey, Annabeth. I told you that-"

"Meet me at the Friends cafe. I want to talk to you," she instructed. 

Her tone made it clear that she wasn't going to take no for an answer. I agreed to her request before starting to drive to the cafe a few minutes away. 

Annabeth arrived after a few minutes. I already ordered our favorite coffees, and the barista brought them over for us. Annabeth sat across from me with a neutral expression. We sat quietly while drinking our coffee. 

"So, you wanted to meet me here," I acknowledged. 

"I understand that you can't tell me anything. However, can you nod or shake your head after I ask the questions?" Annabeth surmised. I nodded with a smile. 

"Okay. First question: are you being forced to date Rachel? Or, better yet, were you forced to leave me?" she asked firmly. 

My breath caught in my chest, and I nodded. 

Her gray eyes sparkled intently. She took another sip of her hot coffee before leaning forward on the table. Her hands were a few inches from my own. 

"Do I have something to do with the pressure that Poseidon is putting on you?" 

I nodded again. 

"Did the cameras capture pictures of us together? Are they blackmailing you with my company and reputation on the line?" 

I didn't want to answer that one. To be honest, I don't want Annabeth to blame herself for this. I decided to protect her. It wasn't her fault. If anything, it was Poseidon's, Octavian's, Mr. Dare's, and Athena's faults.